sad sunday

just a note of follow up about Elvis the cat, who may not make it much longer. He’s just not well, poor guy. Without going into great detail, suffice it to say he won’t eat anymore (it’s been more than a week) and is slowly starving, so this may be his last night. Very sad here for Mr Husband and kids. Thanks for asking, friends.

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I did not make it to the St P’s Day race this morning — have been tending E most of the weekend. This looks to be a crazy week (what other kind is there?). Corned beef and cabbage for 20+ tomorrow night — wear your green, please. Green Hostess SnoBalls and Jello shots and the whole shebang (–>

My good friend Terrence is releasing his new jazz CD tomorrow night at Yoshi’s in Jack London Square — the first show is sold out and I’m hoping to make the second show at 10 — but with a houseful of people, how likely is that? Not very (break a leg, T!). He made the cover of East Bay Express this week, btw. How cool is that?
I was interviewed Friday evening by a writer for the Bay Area Businesswoman monthly for an article about women publishers in the Bay Area. She came Saturday night to the office to snap some pix. Ever been interviewed? Doesn’t it feel like, afterward, you can’t quite remember what you said but you’re dead certain that you sound like an ass? And you look like one, too? Hope you don’t feel like that when I getcha in the paper. Knowing how it feels, I have long had a method to help people feel at ease and never “nail” them. (Sometimes people nail themselves, but that’s just accurate reporting. I never go for anyone’s jugular. I’m perilously nice, probably too nice for the job.)
No idea when that comes out but I’ll post the link when it does. I feel kinda sick. Could be the chili — probably not. Made awesome chili in the Crockpot all day long. Happy cow-meat (free-range pampered beefs from somewhere in Marin), a bit of tofu, fat beans, thick tomato base, yum. It is vanishing quickly.
This will be a big week for the Measure H campaign, as I’ve mentioned and you’ve already heard. I expect to be nose-to-the-news Monday and Tuesday all day. Thursday, though, my youngest daughter and I are heading for the hills: Fabulous Freezing Tahoe, where one of our nephews is getting married. We are taking the train to Sac, then meeting my parents and driving (carpooling!) together to the lake. Daughter and I are sharing a hotel room with my sister and her daughter, so it should be a fun time. It looks to be in the 40s up there so we’ll have to wear our mittens. No email or internet so bear with me for a few days.
All that — and some freelance, too. What else? A story for The EB Monthly about East Bay wineries and also a review of a textiles exhibition in Berkeley. Due in about a week. Ha freaking ha. Seriously. Yes, I am an ass.
The list of undones is long but suffice it to say that taking care of a sweet old kitty in his last days is one of those important things for which everything else stops.

Fried-Day

What a week! Blessed relief that it’s almost over. But it’s rather exciting when news happens. A nice twist from biz-as-uze. (http://www.lunafest.org/the-films.cfm

It’s a very cool event — bring your over-12s, and menfolk — this is for anyone but they are films by and about women. Plus there will be FREE Luna bars to eat. And lots of people. Friends and relations. You know — the usual suspects.

Also this weekend — the Boys & Girls Club Auction/Dinner — I’ve gone to this many a time and it is great fun — alas, I am unable to go this year. And. Also. Many more events. I need to clone myself to see it all.

Cool thing here in the office:
We rearranged the office in anticipation of a new salesperson who we expect to join us next week, and in doing so, created a workspace where we can make someof our products: our new stuff to be made from recycled paper. It’s all still in the works but we needed a place to make stuff. And now we have one.

I spent yesterday afternoon crawling around the office on hands and knees, cleaning, wiping, organizing, yuck. But it looks fabu now. I’m looking forward to new employee and to working inthe space.

Chicago is opening at Altarena this weekend and I am trying to make it work that I can see the show for review. But this weekend might not work. But I’d love to see how they do it in such a small space and in the round. Watch out for flying machine-gun bullets…saw Candide last weekend and it was breathtaking. Virago Theatre at Rhythmix Cultural Works did an outstanding job with very challenging music and no backstage to speak of. Not quite in the round but talk about limited space! It was fun to finally see this production live, after hearing the music for many years. Very satisfying. Like a tick-mark off the Bucket List.

If I had one. Which I don’t.

Or maybe I do, sort of. Like, I wanted to see Paris and London and Scotland and New York, and even Boston, and I have. Wanted to dip my feet in both oceans — Atlantic and Pacific. I did. Wanted to have daughters, and I did; and then a son, which I do now. Wanted to marry my Dream Guy — and I finally did (third time’s a charm). Want my kids to be successful, smart, kind and compassionate — and all of them are.

Still want to do? I want to see every Shakespeare play (done well) onstage before I die (I’ve seen about a dozen so far, and some several times). I want to visit every California mission (I’m about halfway finished). And see whales close up. And take care of my grandchildren. Write a poetry collection. Make stuff. Take a vacation someplace warm, with palm trees and fruity cocktails and soft winds. And of course, get the bestselling book published. (It’s written, but as yet, still undiscovered.)

There’s more — so what’s on your Bucket List?

happy birthday, Mom

It’s my mom’s birthday today. Happy birthday, Liz!

We’re on hyper-early deadline because of the holiday so I ran about a lot over the weekend and today, including ice runs and pill charting and snapping pix and writing stories that ROCK. I found out at about 5 or 6 p.m. that Youngest Girl has a project due tomorrow — making crêpes for the whole class. Surprise! Another trip to the store to get more eggs, milk, and the stuff with which to fill crêpes: Nutella (mmmmmmmmmmmmm), bananas, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I am guessing she gets an A. We mixed the batter (she did it with guidance) and then had two pans going at once on the stove. There are 30+ kids in the class so we doubled the batch. Ack. By the end, she had the wrist motion down to making the crêpes. I’m proud of her.

Middle Daughter (the eldest in the house) managed to make dinner for the family while I was working a bit late. She cooked up some quesadillas with salsa and sour cream, refried beans and mixed squash (frozen from our garden — zukes and yellow crooknecks). All the kids plus one friend (the partner in crime for the crêpe project) ate. I had eaten a nasty burger earlier in the afternoon, thinking I was a-work until 10. But we finished almost everything, except for the three stories I have to write tomorrow before noon, ha fricking ha, and we closed the office up. I was home by 7, and that’s no lie.

I’m reading The Long Winter (part of the Little House series) to the Boy, and my but it makes one feel grateful. No e-mail, no heat, no way to get around, trapped in the depressing cold and dark for months — starving. They had faith, and they persevered. It’s a book to read when you want to feel empowered by the American spirit. What fortitude — they were buoyed along by the hope that spring would come, by old Scots songs and hymns, knitting in the dark, twisting hay to burn, grinding the wheat, waiting for the sun to come and the wind and snow to stop. Are there such blizzards today? How can we survive them? Why does nobody freeze to death or get lost in the snow these days? (Snow-birds, please explain this to me.)

Somehow, some day, I will visit all those sites, and somewhere in my brain there’s a book percolating. Little House at the Point, maybe. Little House on the Island.

Maybe.

Other than that, I am reading Rumi and he is blowing my mind, what little I have left. And trying to keep up on the writing of several books, har de freaking har. This is a short week, though, and we finish the paper and then stop for a few days’ rest. Can’t wait. Zzzzz.

the man

The Man is managing as well as can be expected after surgery. That means bandages, pain meds, ice packs and difficulty sleeping. Our good friends Mike (P’s best man) and Jeannie came over today to feed us, bring us beverages and provisions and bags of ice (thank you, thank you!). Jeannie also kicked my patoot around the living room and made me finish opening the wedding gifts. She made me take them out of boxes and put them away, or into the dishwasher. She organized all the cards. There is just one pile left now, and she’s coming back tomorrow (eek!). She also discovered several hundred dollars worth of checks and gift cards in the midden heap that was my living room floor. Can you believe it? Thank Buddha for friends like that. Now I can get to the thank-you cards that are sadly overdue (sorry, sorry, sorry!).

All the kids are out with friends or at the football game, and thus we have an unexpectedly quiet night. Blueberry muffins for breakfast tomorrow. Who knows what for dinner tonight. I’ve been a blur of perpetual motion: went to four events today for the newspaper, plus a run for ice before the Williamses showed up with an ice chest full (I’ve made 2 ice runs daily since Thurs, ack). I had two concert events to attend tonight but with the current lack of sleep and general exhaustion, not going anywhere except to the couch or bed, whichever is nearer.

I picked up a bunch of movies for the Man but we watched only 5 mins of the most recent 007 before falling asleep last night. I also took the Boy to hockey today, which I can’t seem to say: I keep saying hocker, or soccee (sake?). It’s not soccer, it’s hockey. But my brain is on “fried” right now.

Went to make the Husband a sandwich and all the bread had gone south to Moldyville. Ick. Add that to tomorrow’s grocery list. I also went with middle daughter to look at kittens (her birthday present) at the animal shelter, but we arrived 10 mins to closing, and I had only a credit card, not my checkbook, which they don’t accept. So we’ll have to try again Tuesday or Wednesday to get a kitten. But Lordy lu, the kittens were adorable. I loved them. So soft and mischievous. Purring, sweet. Can’t wait to cuddle with one of them. I miss having my own kitty. And I kinda want a bird, too. A blue parakeet-budgie. I will call him (or her) Jamaica.

In the meantime, too much else going on, so it’s time for a bowl of cereal (my favorite meal –Lucky Charms? Hunny Bunches of Oats? Where are the Frosted Mini Wheats anyway? And the Grape-Nuts?). The Man is asleep. Almost time for meds and more ice.

Then to bed. I think I’m gonna pass out. Now.

plus one more

Just heard this: Bay Area BusinessWoman has a page 3 feature on me this month — mostly reproducing the now world-famous press release, but using a different pic (one of my blog pix). I haven’t seen it yet but it’s out in print all over the 9-county Bay Area (including the North Bay, peoples!). If you see one, grab it. Their Web site hasn’t been updated to Nov issue yet but the site is http://www.babwnews.com/ Check back and see.

If you have absolutely-nothing-else-to-do.